This certainly feels like a foregone conclusion. Literally everybody agrees he has absolutely butchered this whole sign stealing ordeal. A good commissioner with his hand on the pulse of his league would have jumped on this 5 years ago when it was clearly becoming a league wide issue. Instead we got a memo after it had already become a major issue, which was like using a cup of water to put out a big fire. Now one snitch and it's a raging inferno with him comically out of his depth.
To all the members of the national media and baseball mob wanting the title stripped: "Come and take it!"
Was just thinking about Bellinger totally failing in the WS (granted he was a rookie I believe so it was a lot to ask of him). I remember the pitchers throwing him all curve balls and he just couldn't hit them. I have to assume he knew a breaking ball was coming pretty much every time. Not the same as the sign stealing scheme but I just thought it was ironic. He just couldn't make contact with our pitchers breaking balls. Then I remembered McCullers throwing 24 straight curveballs to close out the Yankees. Those MFers knew exactly what was coming at least 20 times in a row and still couldn't hit LMC. Still know it is not the same thing but I found it ironic nonetheless.
I still stand by my statement(above) from two days ago. Give up the title, but blow the lid off this scandal by spilling the beans on other teams. The only way to get the spotlight off the Astros is to put the spotlight on other teams and MLB as a whole. I find it impossible to believe that the Astros were the only team using video to get signs. This story shouldn’t be just about the Astros. It should be about how the sport of baseball has always had players and teams that try to get an edge, and that it is time for all cheating to come to an end. At this point I really don’t care about 2017. It was fun, I enjoyed that season, and I enjoyed the parade. But, for me it’s in the past and I now look forward to this upcoming season.
Not only that, but he has done absolutely nothing to try and drive the narrative after the punishments have been handed down. A strong commissioner would say something like "This was my call, I handed down the largest team penalty in history, here are my reasons why, the decision is final. I understand that the players are upset, but this discourse is not helpful and no amount of public theatrics will change my mind. For the good of the game, I recommend that the players all start to focus on 2020." Instead, he's throwing fuel to the fire with his "I can never be 100%" comments and letting the media walk all over him. He's in way over his head.
What I don't get is why the Red Sox and Yankees got lightly punished for using watches (someone correct me if I am wrong) and the Astros get completely shat on by the league. The Astros obviously deserve it but why don't the Red Sox or Yankees deserve as equally a harsh punishment. The Red Sox won the damn WS too, the same year they were found to be cheating. I have heard that their punishment is expected to come out soon but it is expected to be "light". Why? If they cheated at all, why should the punishment be light? Just because there was no whistleblower teammate? Doesn't make any sense. Also, will the media and players have the same fervor and backlash for the Red Sox if/when they are punished for this cheating scandal. Will any of them point out why Red Sox get off with a "light" punishment/less scrutiny, etc. while the Astros get as close to a death penalty in modern professional sports as anyone can remember? I already know the answer to that and it is no. The Astros are taking the fall on this one and will be the scapegoat. Maybe it is because they were the first ones to win a WS using these methods while the Red Sox were 2nd? I am legitimately wondering why the Red Sox would get off with light punishment when a simple investigation would likely prove that they were using similar or worse tactics than the Astros since Cora has been the manager.
The high horse of the national media is unbearable. My god. Now Astros fans and players can’t have their own opinions? We have to bend our knee and kiss everyone’s ass? I’d call it laughable but it’s closer to disturbing. That Rosenthal piece...I can’t read it. What the hell is wrong with our country.
In Manfred's defense, or something like a defense. He didn't want to investigate the Astros. Apparently us stealing signs was an open secret around the league, everybody knew, yet he played stupid. If the snitch hadn't gone public, nobody is being punished. We're being scapegoated, but that wasn't what he wanted to do. The snitch unfortunately just came out of our camp. Now because Cora went to Boston, they became a target. Just like us, he doesn't really want to investigate them either. So without a snitch, he's gonna make them look as innocent as he can while still acting like he caught them. His strategy was to try an punish the Astros, only once forced, and the then he wanted to keep it as quiet as possible (which has a been a majestic failure) so the depth of the league wide issue isn't made public. If he goes in on NY or Boston, that brings their carnivorous media into the fold. The smart thing would have been to attack the issue head on before it had become such a nefarious topic. But he allowed it to get bad, and it feels like it's gonna keep coming. Fiers won't be the only snitch. TLDR, he wanted to bury his head in the sand and hope it didn't blow up.
DOn't bring our country into this. This is a societal issue. Social media has created bubbles we can create for ourselves where we don't have to have anything we don't agree with in our feeds.
I want to believe! However, I dont. The way this has blown up I think is the biggest deterrent for another snitch to come forward. Now...I do think that our players defending Beltran could lend a slim chance of helping us when/if we ever hear from Beltran again. It seems as though the Yankess are trying to dis-own their ties to him. Just based off the most recent snippet where the Yankees front office claimed to have "not trusted Beltran." Maybe when he does speak he will come forward with where he learned his antics. Maybe, since we defended him he will feel some loyalty to us and help get the heat off of us. All very slight chances of happening, but one can hope, and at least it makes some sense. I think the soonest we can hear from him is when this Boston report comes to light. While I am rather certain they let Boston off light...I am just as certain that they will absolutely drop the hammer on Cora. That will put Cora, at minimum in the spotlight, lets see if he wants to occupy that alone or bring someone else into it (his partner in Houston, Beltran).
keeping the title isn't really for the fans. it's for the players and everyone in the astros organization and all the work that they put into it. for players, you never know when or if you'll ever get another shot at a title... so it's even more important for them to hold onto that title for dear life, no matter what anyone on the outside says. the patriots got to keep their titles.... and the cheating they did, from video recording opponent's practices to deflating footballs were far more egregious than what the astros conjured up. strip the astros title, and then you have to go back and revisit every single title from past world series champions because of how prevalent sign-stealing has been in baseball, on top of all the performance enhancing drugs that players have used, even way back to the early 20th century. just like how hank aaron is one of the most vocal critics of players who have used PEDs when people in baseball know that he clearly benefitted from PEDs himself... the players that are the most vocal about punishing the astros are the ones that are most likely benefitting from cheating themselves. and i guarantee you, those teams (looking at you dodgers and yankees) and those players are going to find new ways to sign-steal and cheat until they too finally get caught and punished with irrefutable evidence. there really is no point for the astros to give in and relinquish their title.
They won’t admit that because they weren’t the only team cheating. NY got popped the same year and LA was being accused as well.
My fear is...do they really HAVE to though? Do they really have to go back and look at all the other titles? Im not so sure. Who will be in an uproar if they dont? The blood people want is the blood of the Astros.
Possibly. But I've heard some people -- people who aren't Astros fans (some were Yankees fans) -- say this will galvanize the team and we'll do great. Vegas O/U is 94.5 wins MLB Network predicts 98 wins
We have an entire generation of people that have grown up thinking that they can have everything their way and say whatever they want on social media without repercussions. Also, far too many sports journalists and media outlets care more about getting clicks and views or enhancing their personal reputations rather than sticking to the facts and serving as a watchdog over the beats they cover (what journalism was intended to do). They are also too friendly with the entities involved (players, agents and front offices), so objectivity has become much harder for them to achieve. A journalist isn’t supposed to create the narrative, but rather report on it.
